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Displaying items by tag: Ardnacrusha lock

Waterways Ireland wishes to advise all masters of vessels and water users that the lock at Ardnacrusha power plant on the River Shannon will be closed for six weeks from Monday 20 January to Monday 2 March to facilitate essential maintenance works.

The cross-border body for Ireland’s inland waterways apologises for any inconvenience caused and thanks all vessel owners for their co-operation.

Published in Inland Waterways

#ardnacrusha – Waterways Ireland is changing the advice on travel from Ardnascrusha into the Limerick Navigation due to a new service available from the ESB which provides real time information on the output from the turbines.
Boaters are advised not to travel on the Ardnacrusha to Limerick Navigation if the output from Ardnacrusha is above 20 Megawatts. The previous advice advised boaters not to travel if one turbine was operating; 1 turbine is equivalent to 20 megawatts.
The new service offers real time information on the megawatt output of Ardnacrusha by phone (tel 087-6477229) and is available 24hrs a day. Boaters are advised to contact the ESB phoneline for information on the output when making travel plans. In the event of a line failure in the real time information number, boaters can call the main Ardnacrusha number 087-9970131 for the megawatt information as well as any other information required for travel through Ardnacrusha.
This new information service is an improvement in safety for mariners who travel on the Ardnacrusha to Limerick Navigation.

Published in Inland Waterways

Waterways Ireland has issued a reminder to users of the inland waterways on the Shannon Navigation that it is advised not to undertake a voyage if more than one turbine is operating, due to increased velocity of flow in the navigation which can be dangerous. The situation may also arise when flood conditions prevail.

Contact the lock keeper at Ardnacrusha (tel: 087-7972998) for information on the number of turbines in operation at Ardnacrusha before commencing transit of this part of the river. 

Published in Inland Waterways

About Brittany Ferries

In 1967 a farmer from Finistère in Brittany, Alexis Gourvennec, succeeded in bringing together a variety of organisations from the region to embark on an ambitious project: the aim was to open up the region, to improve its infrastructure and to enrich its people by turning to traditional partners such as Ireland and the UK. In 1972 BAI (Brittany-England-Ireland) was born.

The first cross-Channel link was inaugurated in January 1973, when a converted Israeli tank-carrier called Kerisnel left the port of Roscoff for Plymouth carrying trucks loaded with Breton vegetables such as cauliflowers and artichokes. The story, therefore, begins on 2 January 1973, 24 hours after Great Britain's entry into the Common Market (EEC).

From these humble beginnings however, Brittany Ferries as the company was re-named quickly opened up to passenger transport, then became a tour operator.

Today, Brittany Ferries has established itself as the national leader in French maritime transport: an atypical leader, under private ownership, still owned by a Breton agricultural cooperative.

Eighty five percent of the company’s passengers are British.

Key Brittany Ferries figures:

  • Turnover: €202.4 million (compared with €469m in 2019)
  • Investment in three new ships, Galicia plus two new vessels powered by cleaner LNG (liquefied natural gas) arriving in 2022 and 2023
  • Employment: 2,474 seafarers and shore staff (average high/low season)
  • Passengers: 752,102 in 2020 (compared with 2,498,354 in 2019)
  • Freight: 160,377 in 2020 (compared with 201,554 in 2019)
  • Twelve ships operating services that connect France, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Spain (non-Covid year) across 14 routes
  • Twelve ports in total: Bilbao, Santander, Portsmouth, Poole, Plymouth, Cork, Rosslare, Caen, Cherbourg, Le Havre, Saint-Malo, Roscoff
  • Tourism in Europe: 231,000 unique visitors, staying 2.6 million bed-nights in France in 2020 (compared with 857,000 unique visitors, staying 8,7 million bed-nights in 2019).